kbreese

Today was my 3rd attempt. They keep saying the monitors are not ready to be read. The first two times they said it's because it hasn't been driven enough. But I drove to PA where it just had baby cam and SD tune done, and other places 9+ hours of driving before taking it this 3rd time. They said it's definitely been driven enough and they don't know what the problem is. This is just an STS, not a vette shop or anything.

Any idea's?

Mods = PRC265 heads, EPS baby cam, Kooks LT's WITH cats, and Haltech intake.

Is there something wrong with the cars computer?

subfloor@centurytrans

No, sometimes they just won't show as ready no matter how many miles you drive.

Your tune however can be tweaked so everything will show as ready without any driving whatsoever. If you or your tuner has access to HP Tuners I can show you how to do it.

kbreese

Damnit, the place that just did the cam install/tune is in PA which is a 4-hour drive for me. I wish I would have known this before hand I would have told them to do what you are saying. They use HPTuners too.

II do have a couple of good local places: Vette Doctors and JTM motorsports, maybe I can take it to one of them to get it straightened out...

Does the fact that my car is on an SD tune cause any conflict with fixing this?

Unreal

It is the tune. They have stuff set so it will never show ready. They need to fix it.

Buy HP tuners, and fix it yourself. Super super super simple. Anyone with a modded car should have a copy anyways.

nuke61

I second the idea that everyone with a modded car should have HPTuners, if for no other reason that you can log the performance of your engine, even if you make no changes.

In this case, you just go in and change the sensors that are causing the problem to stop reporting an error.




Errors that stop the Ready indication.



Change to No Error Reported.

kbreese

Well I guess both tuners did the same thing, because the first 2 times it failed was with the Wong Performance tune and this 3rd time was with the CSP tune.

As far as buying HP Tuners, is there a specific version or package I need to buy? Do I need a laptop?


It's really that simple and it will pass inspection? The inspection station won't know it was tampered with like this, and it won't set off any red flags?

Also, what if there really is a problem that needs to be addressed? I mean the car seems to run fine so I don't think so, but just saying..

Unreal

Its already tampered with.

Any version will work, they only sell normal and pro, and you don't need the pro. Yes it needs a laptop, or you can move a computer close enough to the car.

subfloor@centurytrans

Yes, just watch this video I made a while back:

kbreese

Thanks guys. So it looks like the standard GM package sells everywhere for $499, not that big of a deal but is there anywhere to get it cheaper by any chance?

This one right here, correct?
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/hpt-6011/overview/

And I'll need to buy a cheap laptop too.

Hmm, wondering if I'd be better off just taking it to a local place to have them do it. I wouldn't think they would charge that much, if they already have HPTuners, wouldn't it just take them a few minutes to do this?

nuke61

IF all they are doing is plugging in and checking that the computer says everything is good to go, you're golden. I've done this very thing with my (now sold) boosted C5. Several years ago in CA when they were transitioning from the old tailpipe test to the new computer test, they did both. My car would pass the sniffer, but fail Readiness. I turned off only the codes that were set, and it then passed.

nuke61

That's correct, you get the version specific for Ford, GM, or Chrysler. Or you can go to https://www.hptuners.com/

I don't know of any place that sells it at other than $499.

Yes, just a few minutes, but I have no idea what they would charge.

Dale1990

That one from Summit would be fine to do the updates you'd need. The only possible issue would be that it doesn't have the ability to record analog data from wideband O2s or other custom sensors. If you think you might need that ability, there is a "pro" version that has the inputs. If all you might eventually want is a wideband O2 sensor, there are products that work over the OBDII interface to get around the lack of analog inputs, though.

As far as a laptop, HPTuners is a "light" app so it can run on pretty low-end hardware so there's no need to buy anything fancy. Pretty much any modern Windows laptop with a USB port will be fine.

subfloor@centurytrans

And if you'd prefer to not have to buy a laptop because this is the only thing you think it'd ever be used for, you could even get away with dragging a desktop computer out to the driveway and running everything with a very long extension cord. I know that sounds kind of extreme, but it would be very doable and save you some money.

As for how much it costs to have a shop do it with your HP Tuners interface, that's a little hard to predict. I've done it for several people for free but there seem to be a lot of shops out there that won't touch your car for anything less than a couple of hundred dollars regardless of what they end up doing.

Unreal

It is worth having no matter what. Just to log, check codes, etc.

Buy it from DSX. Same price everywhere, but he gives support which is priceless.

Unreal

Or find a local person with HP tuners, buy them a beer and the credits and be done.

Sad that you have to be out more money to pass emissions as shops should know customers like to pass emissions and it is easy to setup the tune properly to pass.

Michael_D

Keep an eye on the for sale forum. Someone is always selling a used HPT interface and cable it seems......

Part of the purchase price is the 8 credits that come with it new. You only need two credits, and they run about $50 each.

kbreese

Is it possible that it's simply a case of all the driving conditions not met yet for the drive cycle to be met?

Since the cam install tune, it was a 4-hour drive home from PA, did all kinds of driving including stop and go. After getting it home I hadn't driven it until taking it to STS for the inspection, which is 4 mins down the road from me.

But Unreal said they shop has the tune setup so it will never show as ready? Can that be true? I can't imagine they would do that.

kbreese

Contacted CSP (The shop that just did the cam install/tune) and they said making it show as ready would pass you however it disables all the codes to let you know if something like an O2 sensor or EVAP sensor has failed. They like to keep it so that if you have something failing, you will still get a CEL and know there is something to be addressed.

This makes perfect sense to me. In fact I would be upset if they disabled everything just to make sure I pass inspection.

Also, they had no idea I was about to get in inspected. They probably just assume the cycle will be complete whenever I go for inspection. No different then if you have to change your battery.

With disabling stuff thru HP Tuners to get it to pass inspection, I'm assuming you guys turn everything back on after you pass, right?

It seems a sufficient driving cycle should make everything ready...EVENTUALLY. If it for some reason never shows as ready again, then it seems like a problem with the computer and the only way around it is to disable stuff with HPTuners.

So it seems for now I should just keep driving it and/or do the C6 cycle procedure of driving, and it should hopefully put everything ready. Then give it another shot. If that doesn't work that I'll have to resort to forking over cash for HPTuners and a laptop.

nuke61

It all depends on what you turn off, and how comfortable you are with leaving it off. The codes I turned off were Cat efficiency codes, so I just left them off.

subfloor@centurytrans

The easiest thing to do is save your current tune, make the needed modifications in order to pass inspection and then load the original one back in afterwards.